Beavers may be new to the Arctic, but they’re already leaving their mark. The industrious rodents are expanding their range as a result of environmental change, pushing their way north into permafrost and tundra landscapes. Their arrival carries many consequences for subsistence users. Creeks that once supported reliable fishing are now beaver-dammed. Fish and […]
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON – “Harpoon 1-2, this is Midnight Sun 1, radio check, over.” A brief pause stretches across the 545 miles of Arctic terrain, mountains and tundra between Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and Nome. “Midnight Sun 1, this is Harpoon 1-2. I read you loud and clear. How me?” The response cuts clean through […]
Applied research collects data needed to ensure food security for Indigenous subsistence hunters in the United States and Canada. In 2025, NOAA and the Alaska North Slope Borough successfully completed a survey to count bowhead and beluga whales in the U.S. and Canadian Beaufort Seas and Amundsen Gulf. This international, multi-agency, multi-species project was the result of 3 […]
New research shows a single year of warmer-than-average Arctic temperatures can cause malnutrition in Arctic seals, intensifying risks to Inuit food security and northern ecosystems already under pressure from environmental toxins, warn Simon Fraser University researchers. The SFU study found Arctic ringed seals are struggling to clear persistent contaminants and banned pesticides from their bodies — a long‑term […]